San Pablo
Church in Valladolid, seat of a Cortes held in 1518.
Protests emerged when the Flemish adviser Jean de Sauvage was named
its president, presaging later troubles.

The Revolt of the Comuneros (Spanish:
Guerra de las Comunidades de
Castilla, "War of the Communities of Castile") was an
uprising by citizens of Castile against the rule of Charles V and his
administration between 1520 and 1521. At its height, the rebels
controlled the heart of Castile, ruling the cities of Valladolid, Tordesillas, and Toledo.

The revolt occurred in the wake of political instability in the
Crown of
Castile after the death of Queen Isabella I in 1504. Joanna the
Mad, Ferdinand and Isabella's second
daughter, inherited the throne with her Burgundian husband King Philip
I. However, Philip died two years into his reign, and their son
Charles was only six years old. Due to his youth and Joanna's
mental instability, Castile was ruled by the nobles and Ferdinand
of Aragon as a regency. After Ferdinand's death in 1516, the
sixteen-year-old Charles was proclaimed King Charles I of both
Castile and Aragon. Charles had been raised in
the Netherlands with little
knowledge of Castilian Spanish. He arrived in
Spain in October 1517 accompanied by a large retinue of Flemish
nobles and clerics. These factors resulted in mistrust between the
new king and the Castilian social elites, who could see the threat
to their power and status.

In 1519, Charles was elected Holy Roman Emperor. He departed for
Germany in 1520, leaving the Dutch cardinal Adrian of Utrecht to rule Castile in his
absence. Soon, a series of anti-government riots broke out in the
cities, and local city councils (Comunidades) took power.
The rebels chose Charles' own mother, Queen Joanna, as an
alternative ruler, hoping they could control her madness. The rebel
movement took on a radical anti-feudal dimension, supporting peasant
rebellions against the landed nobility. On April 23, 1521, after
nearly a year of rebellion, the reorganized supporters of the
emperor struck a crippling blow to the comuneros at the Battle of
Villalar. The following day, rebel leaders Juan de Padilla, Juan Bravo, and Francisco
Maldonado were beheaded. The army of the comuneros fell apart.
Only the city of Toledo kept alive the rebellion, until its
surrender in October 1521.

The character of the revolution is a matter of historiographical
debate. According to some scholars, the revolt was one of the first
modern revolutions, notably because of the anti-noble sentiment
against social injustice and its basis on ideals of democracy and
freedom. Others consider it a more typical rebellion against high
taxes and perceived foreign control. From the 19th century onwards,
the revolt has been mythologized by various Spaniards, generally
liberals who drew political inspiration from it. Conservative
intellectuals have traditionally adopted more pro-Imperial stances
toward the revolt, and have been critical of both the motives and
the government of the comuneros. With the end of Franco's
dictatorship and the establishment of the autonomous community of
Castile
and León, positive commemoration of the Comunidades
has grown. April 23 is now celebrated as Castile and León Day, and the
incident is often referred to in Castilian nationalism.

Discontent had been brewing for years before the Revolt of the
Comuneros. The second half of the 15th century saw profound
political, economic, and social changes in Spain. Economic growth
created new urban industries and offered a route to power and
wealth not tied to the aristocracy. Support from these urban elites
was critical to Ferdinand and Isabella's
centralization of power, and they acted as a counterweight to the
landed aristocracy and the clergy.[1]

However, with Queen Isabella's death in 1504,
this alliance between the national government and the budding
middle class faltered.[1]
The Castilian government decayed with each successive
administration, becoming rife with corruption.[2] King Philip the
Handsome ruled for a mere two years; he was replaced by Archbishop Cisneros as regent for a short
time, and then by Ferdinand who ruled from
Aragon.[3]
Ferdinand's claim to continue ruling Castile was somewhat tenuous
after his wife Isabella's death, but no plausible alternatives
existed as the theoretical heir, Isabella's daughter Joanna the
Mad, was mentally unfit to succeed her late husband Philip.[3]
The landed nobility of Castile took advantage of the weak and
corrupt Royal Council to illegally expand
their territory and domain with private armies while the government
did nothing.[4] In
response, the towns signed mutual defense pacts, relying on each
other rather than the national government.[5]

The budgets of both Castile and Aragon had been in poor
condition for some time. The government had expelled the
Jews in 1492 and the Muslims
of Granada in 1502, moves that undercut lucrative trades and
businesses.[6]
Ferdinand and Isabella had been forced to borrow money to pay
troops during and after the Reconquista, and Spanish military
obligations had only increased since then.[7]
A large number of troops were required to maintain stability in
recently conquered Granada, threatened by revolt from
the maltreated moriscos
(former Muslims who converted) and frequent naval raids from Muslim nations along the
Mediterranean.[8]
Additionally, Ferdinand had invaded and occupied
the Iberian part of Navarre in 1512, and forces were required
to garrison it against Navarrese revolts and French armies.[9] Very
little money was left to pay for the royal army in Castile proper,
let alone service foreign debts. The corruption in the government
since Isabella's death only made the budget shortfalls worse.[7]

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Succession
of Charles

In 1516, Ferdinand died. The remaining heir was Ferdinand and
Isabella's grandson Charles, who became King
Charles I of both Castile and Aragon in
co-regency with his mother Joanna. Charles
was brought up in Flanders, the homeland of his father Philip,
and barely knew Castilian Spanish.[10] The
people greeted him with skepticism, but also hoped he would restore
stability. With the arrival of the new king in late 1517, his
Flemish court took positions of power in Castile; young Charles
only trusted people he knew from the Netherlands. Among the most
scandalous of these was the appointment of the twenty-year-old William de Croÿ as Archbishop of Toledo. The Archbishopric was
an important position; it had been held by Archbishop Cisneros, the
former regent of the country.[11][12]
Six months into his rule, discontent openly simmered among rich and
poor alike. Even some monks began to agitate, denouncing the
opulence of the royal court, the Flemish, and the nobility in their
sermons. One of the first public protests involved placards posted
in churches, which read:

You, land of Castile, very wretched and damned are you to
suffer that as noble a kingdom as you are, you will be governed by
those who have no love for you.[13]

With the unrest growing, Charles' paternal grandfather Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I died in 1519. A new election had to be held to
choose the next emperor. Charles campaigned aggressively for the
post, vying with King Francis I of France to bribe
the most prince-electors.[14]
Charles I won the election, becoming Emperor Charles V and
cementing the power of the House of Habsburg. He prepared to
head to Germany to take possession of his new domains in the Holy
Roman Empire.[14]

New taxes: The
Cortes of Santiago and Corunna

Charles had already stressed the treasury to its limit with his
extravagant Flemish court, and over 1 million gold
florins were spent in bribes for the election.[12]
Taxes[note a] had to be raised to
cover the debt, but a Cortes (the Spanish parliamentary
body) was required to approve new taxes. Thus, in late March 1520,
Charles convened the Cortes in Santiago de Compostela. Charles
ensured the Cortes would only have limited power, and further
attempted to stack the Cortes with pliable representatives he could
bribe.[12]
Support for the opposition only increased in response, and the
representatives demanded that their grievances be heard first
before any new tax was granted.[15] A
group of clerics soon circulated a statement in protest of the
king. It argued three points: any new taxes should be rejected;
Castile should be embraced and the foreign Empire rejected; and if
the king did not take into account his subjects, the
Comunidades themselves should defend the interests of the
kingdom.[16]
It was the first occasion in which the word comunidades
(communities, communes) was used to signify the independent
populace, and the name would stick to the councils later
formed.[16]
At this point, most of the members of the Cortes in Santiago
intended to vote against the king's requested duties and taxes,
even with the Cortes stacked with royalists. In response, Charles
decided to suspend the Cortes on April 4.[17] He
convened it again in Corunna on April 22, this time getting his
program passed.[12]
On May 20, he embarked for Germany, and left as regent of his
Spanish possessions his former tutor, Adrian of Utrecht
(better known as the future Pope Adrian VI).[18]

Beginnings of the Revolt

Rebelliousness in Toledo

In April 1520, Toledo was already unstable. The city
council had been at the forefront of protesting against the
Imperial election, decrying the short-term expenses that would be
borne by Castile and questioning the role of
Castile in this new political framework, given the possibility that
the land would become a mere imperial province.[16]
The situation erupted when the royal government summoned the most
radical of the city councilors away from the city, intending to
send back more easily controllable replacements on a royal salary.
The order came on April 15; one day later, as the councilors
prepared to leave, a large crowd opposed to the departure rioted
and drove out the royal administrators instead.[19] A
citizen's committee was elected under the leadership of Juan López de Padilla and Pero
Laso de la Vega, naming themselves a Comunidad. On April
21, the remaining administrators were driven from the
fortifications of the Alcázar of Toledo.[20]

Following the departure of Charles to Germany, the riots
multiplied in the cities of central Castile, especially after
the arrival of legislators who voted "yes" to the taxes Charles had
asked for. Segovia had some
of the earliest and most violent incidents; on May 30, a mob of
woolworkers murdered two administrators and the city's legislator
who had voted in favor.[21]
Incidents of a similar size occurred in cities such as Burgos and Guadalajara, while others, such as
León, Ávila, and Zamora, suffered
minor altercations.[22]

Proposals to other
cities

With widespread discontent circulating, on June 8 Toledo's
council suggested to cities with a vote in the Cortes to hold an
emergency meeting. They proffered five goals:

Designate a Castilian to lead the kingdom in the absence of the
king.[23]

These claims, especially the first two, spread quickly through
society.[23]
Ideas began to circulate of replacing the king; Toledo's leaders
floated the possibility of turning the cities of Castile into
independent free
cities, similar to Genoa and other Italian republics.[23]
Competing proposals suggested keeping the monarchy, but dethroning
Charles. They proposed that he be replaced by either his mother
Queen Joanna or his Castilian-born brother Ferdinand.[24] With
these ideas, the revolt shifted from a simple protest against taxes
to a broader revolution. Many cities, while not quite in outright
revolt, stopped sending taxes to the Royal Council and began to
self-govern.[25]

Expansion of the Revolt

Blockade of
Segovia

Segovia, the city of the first armed clash between the comuneros
and the royalists

The situation moved closer to armed conflict on June 10. Rodrigo
Ronquillo had been sent to Segovia by the Royal
Council to investigate the recent murder of Segovia's
legislator, but Segovia refused him entry. Unable to besiege a city
of 30,000 with only a small force, Ronquillo instead set out to
blockade foodstuffs and other supplies from entering Segovia. The
people of Segovia, led by militia leader and noble Juan Bravo, rallied
around the Comunidad. Segovia requested aid against
Ronquillo's army from the Comunidades of Toledo and
Madrid. The cities responded by sending their militias, captained
by Juan de Padilla and Juan Zapata,
who won in the first major confrontation between the forces of the
king and the rebels.[8]

The
Junta of Ávila

Other cities now followed the lead of Toledo and Segovia,
deposing their governments. A revolutionary Cortes, La Santa Junta de las Comunidades
("Holy Assembly of the Communities"),[note b]
held its first session in Ávila and declared itself the legitimate
government deposing the Royal Council. Padilla was named
Captain-General, and troops were assembled. Still, only four cities
sent representatives at first: Toledo, Segovia, Salamanca, and
Toro.[26]

Burning of Medina del
Campo

Faced with the situation in Segovia, Regent and Cardinal Adrian of Utrecht decided to use the royal
artillery, located in nearby Medina del Campo, to take Segovia and
defeat Padilla. Adrian ordered his commander Antonio de Fonseca to
seize the artillery.[27]
Fonseca arrived on August 21 in Medina, but encountered heavy
resistance from the townspeople, as the city had strong trade links
to Segovia. Fonseca ordered the setting of a fire to distract the
resistance, but it grew out of control. Much of the town was
destroyed, including a Franciscan monastery and a trade warehouse
containing goods valued at more than 400,000 ducats.[28]
Fonseca had to withdraw his troops, and the event was a public
relations disaster for the government.[28][29]
Uprisings throughout Castile occurred, even in cities that
previously had been neutral such as Castile's capital, Valladolid. The
establishment of the Comunidad of Valladolid caused the
most important core of the Iberian plateau to declare for the
rebels, upending the stability of the government. New members now
joined the Junta of Ávila and the Royal Council looked discredited;
Adrian had to flee to Medina de Rioseco as Valladolid
fell.[29]
The royal army, with many of its soldiers unpaid for months,
started to disintegrate.[27]

The
Junta of Tordesillas

Joanna the Mad, officially the Queen and
co-regent of Castile with her son Charles, actually had no power
whatsoever

The comunero army now properly organized itself, integrating the
militias of Toledo, Madrid, and Segovia. Once told of Fonseca's
attack, the comunero forces went to Medina del Campo and took
possession of the artillery that had just been denied to Fonseca's
troops.[30] On
August 29, the comuneros' army arrived at Tordesillas with the goal of declaring Queen
Joanna the sole sovereign. The Junta moved from Ávila to
Tordesillas at the Queen's request and invited cities that had not
yet sent representatives to do so.[31] A
total of thirteen cities were represented in the Junta of
Tordesillas: Burgos, Soria, Segovia, Ávila, Valladolid, León, Salamanca, Zamora, Toro, Toledo, Cuenca, Guadalajara, and Madrid.[32] The
only invited cities that failed to attend were the four Andalusian
cities: Seville, Granada, Cordova, and
Jaén. Since most of the
kingdom was represented at Tordesillas, the Junta renamed itself
the Cortes y Junta General del
Reino ("General Assembly of the Kingdom").[33] On
September 24, 1520, the mad Queen, for the first and only time,
presided over the Cortes.[34]

The legislators met with Queen Joanna and explained the purpose
of the Cortes: to proclaim her sovereignty and restore lost
stability to the kingdom. The next day, September 25, the Cortes
issued a declaration pledging to use arms if necessary and for the
whole to aid any one city that was threatened. On September 26, the
Cortes of Tordesillas declared itself the new legitimate government
and denounced the Royal Council. Oaths of self-defense were taken
by all the cities represented over the week, finishing by September
30. The revolutionary government now had structure and a free hand
to act, with the Royal Council still ineffective and confused.[35]

Scope of
the rebellion

The comuneros were strong in the central plateau of the Iberian
Peninsula, as well as scattered other places such as Murcia. The rebels sought to
propound their revolutionary ideas to the rest of the kingdom, but
without much success. There were few attempts at rebellion
elsewhere, such as in Galicia to the northwest or in Andalusia to the south.[36]Comunidades in the south were set up in Jaén, Úbeda, and Baeza, unique in Andalusia, but with time they
were drawn back into the royalists. Murcia stayed with the rebel
cause, but did not coordinate much with the Junta, and the
rebellion there had a character closer to the nearby Revolt of the Brotherhoods
in Valencia in Aragon.[37] In Extremadura to the
southwest, the city of Plasencia joined the Comunidades,
but this was undermined by the close proximity of other royalist
cities such as Ciudad Rodrigo and Cáceres.[36]
A close correlation can be drawn between poor economic fortunes
over the previous twenty years and the rebellion; central Castile
suffered from agricultural failure and other setbacks under the
Royal Council, while Andalusia was relatively prosperous with its
maritime trade. Andalusia's leadership also feared that in the
instability of a civil war, the Moriscos of Granada would
likely revolt.[38]

The rebels were strongest in the central plateau of Spain; the
royalists controlled Andalusia in the South and Galicia in the
North. Aragon was distracted by the Revolt of the Brotherhoods,
and Navarre was
occupied by Castilian troops who guarded against the return of
the Navarrese king and the French.
Rebel cities are in purple; Royalist cities are in green; cities
with both elements present or that vacillated are in both
colors.

Popular and governmental
response

Adrian of Utrecht, future Pope Adrian VI,
was considered an effective regent despite the difficult situation.
He spearheaded the recruitment of nobility to the royalist side,
and two Castilian co-regents were appointed to lessen the
appearance of foreign control.

Turning of
the nobles

The growing success of the comuneros emboldened people to accuse
members of the old government of complicity with royal abuses. The
protests attacked the landed nobility as well, many of whom had
illegally taken property during the reign of the regents and weak
kings after Isabella's death. In Dueñas, the Count of Buendía's vassals
revolted against him on September 1, 1520, encouraged by rebel
monks.[39]
This uprising was followed by others of a similar anti-feudal
nature.[40] The
leadership of the comuneros was forced to take a stance on these
new rebellions; reluctant to openly endorse them, the Junta
initially denounced them but did nothing to oppose them.[41] The
dynamics of the uprising thus changed profoundly, as it could now
jeopardize the status of the entire manorial system. The nobles had previously
been somewhat sympathetic to the cause due to their loss of
privileges to the central government. However, these new
developments lead to a dramatic drop in support for the comuneros
from aristocrats, who were frightened by the more radical elements
of the revolution.[39]

Response
of Charles V

At first, Charles seemed not to grasp the magnitude of the
revolt. He continued to demand payments from Castile; with the
government of Castile still in arrears, Cardinal Adrian found it
impossible to secure any new loans.[25]
A letter from Cardinal Adrian on August 25 warned Charles of the
severity of the situation:

Your Highness is making a great error if you think that you
will be able to collect and make use of this tax; there is no one
in the Kingdom, not in Seville or Valladolid or any other city who
will ever pay anything of it; all the grandees and members of the
council are amazed that Your Highness has scheduled payments from
these funds.[25]

Once he realized that a full-fledged revolution was underway,
Charles responded vigorously. Through Cardinal Adrian, he undertook
new policy initiatives, such as canceling the taxes granted in the
Cortes of Corunna. Most important was the appointment of two new
Castilian co-regents: the Constable of Castile, Íñigo Fernández, and the Admiral of
Castile, Fadrique Enríquez.[42] This
negated two of the most salient complaints of the rebels. In
addition, Adrian approached the nobles to convince them that their
best interests lay with the king. The Royal Council was
re-established in the fief of Admiral Enríquez, Medina de
Rioseco, which enabled the Council to be nearer to the
revolting cities and reassure skeptical supporters.[43] While
the royal army was still in tatters, many high nobles maintained
their own well-trained mercenary armies—armies that with the
revolt's recent radicalization would now fight for the king.[29]

Organization,
funding, and diplomacy

The first political defeats of the comuneros came in October
1520. The comuneros' attempt to use Queen Joanna for legitimacy did
not bear fruit, as she blocked their initiatives and refused to
sign any edicts.[44] In
turn, dissenting voices inside the comuneros now began to be heard,
especially in Burgos. The
wavering position of Burgos was soon known to the royalists, and
the Constable of Castile negotiated with Burgos's government. The
Royal Council granted a number of significant concessions to Burgos
in exchange for them leaving the Junta.[45]

Following this incident, the Royal Council hoped that other
cities would imitate Burgos and leave the comuneros peacefully.
Valladolid, the former seat of royal power, was considered
especially likely to turn, but too many supporters of the king had
left city politics and lost their influence. It remained
rebel-controlled.[46] The
Admiral of Castile continued his campaign to try to convince the
comuneros to return to the royal government and thereby avoid a
violent suppression.[47] This
attitude concealed a great shortage of funds on the royal side.[48]

During October and November 1520, both sides accepted that a
military conclusion would soon be necessary and actively devoted
themselves to fundraising, recruiting soldiers, and training their
troops. The comuneros organized their militias in the major cities
and levied new taxes on the countryside; they also took measures
aimed at eliminating waste, routinely auditing their treasurers and
dismissing those thought to be corrupt.[49] The
royal government, which had lost much of its revenue due to the
revolt, sought loans from Portugal and from conservative Castilian
bankers, who saw reassuring signs in the switch of the allegiance
of Burgos.[48]

Battle of
Tordesillas

Leadership
disputes

The royal army, commanded by the Constable of Castile's son, the Count
of Haro, consisted of 6,000 infantry, 2,100 cavalry, and 12–15
artillery pieces. Pedro Girón's rebel force was larger but slower,
with 10,000 infantry, 900 cavalry, and 13 artillery pieces. The
rebels' deficiency in cavalry would hurt them throughout the
war.[50]

Gradually, both the city of Toledo and its leader Juan de Padilla lost influence
within the Junta, though Padilla retained popularity and prestige
among the commoners. Two new figures emerged within the
Comunidades, Pedro Girón and Antonio Osorio de Acuña. Girón
was one of the most powerful nobles who supported the comuneros;
his rebellion is thought to originate from Charles' refusal to
grant Girón the prestigious Duchy of Medina-Sidonia a year
prior to the war. Antonio de Acuña was the Bishop of
Zamora. Acuña was also the head of the Comunidad in
Zamora and the leader of its army, which included more than 300
priests.[51][52]

On the royalist side, the nobles could not agree on what tactics
to use. Some preferred to directly challenge the rebels in combat,
while others such as the Constable of Castile favored continued
waiting and the building of defensive fortifications. The Admiral
of Castile preferred negotiations and exhausting all the possible
peaceful options first.[53]
Patience, however, began to run thin; armies were expensive to
maintain once assembled. In late November 1520, both armies took
positions between Medina de Rioseco and Tordesillas, and a
confrontation was inevitable.[54]

Royal
capture

With Pedro Girón in command, the army of the comuneros advanced
on Medina de
Rioseco, following the orders of the Junta. Girón established
his headquarters in Villabrágima, a town merely
8 kilometres (5 miles) from the royalist army. The
royalists occupied nearby villages to cut communication lines back
to other comuneros.[54]

This situation continued until December 2, when Girón,
apparently thinking the royal army would remain entrenched,[note c] moved his forces
west to the small town of Villalpando.[55]
The town surrendered the next day without resistance, and the
troops began looting the estates in the area. However, with this
movement, the comuneros left the path to Tordesillas completely
unprotected. The royal army took advantage of the blunder, marching
by night on December 4 and occupying Tordesillas the next day. The
small rebel garrison was overwhelmed.[50]

Seizure of Tordesillas marked a serious defeat for the
comuneros, who lost Queen Joanna and with her their claim
to legitimacy. In addition, thirteen representatives of the Junta
were imprisoned, though others fled and escaped.[55]
Morale fell among the rebels, and much angry criticism was directed
towards Pedro Girón for his maneuvering of the troops out of
position and for his failure to attempt to retake Tordesillas or
capture Medina de Rioseco. Girón was obliged to resign from his
post and withdrew from the war.[56]

Events of December and
January

Reorganization of the
comuneros

Following the loss of Tordesillas, the comuneros regrouped in Valladolid. The Junta
reconvened on December 15, but with only eleven cities represented,
down from a height of fourteen. Soria and Guadalajara's
representatives did not return, and Burgos had left earlier.[57]
Valladolid would be the third capital of the rebels, after Ávila
and Tordesillas.[58]

The situation was somewhat worse for the army, with a large
number of desertions in Valladolid and Villalpando. This forced the
rebels to intensify their recruitment drives, especially in Toledo,
Salamanca, and Valladolid itself. With these new recruits and the
arrival of Juan de Padilla to Valladolid, the rebel military
apparatus was rebuilt and morale bolstered. At the beginning of
1521, the comuneros prepared for an all-out war, despite
disagreements within the movement. Some suggested seeking a
peaceful resolution, while others favored continuing the war. Those
who favored war were divided between two tactics: occupy Simancas and Torrelobatón, a
less ambitious proposal defended by Pero Laso de la Vega; or lay
siege to Burgos, a tactic favored by Padilla.[59]

Military
initiatives in Palencia and Burgos

Arco de Santa María in Burgos,
one of the few cities loyal to the king on the Iberian
plateau

In the far north of Castile, the rebel army began a series of
operations conducted by Antonio de Acuña, bishop of
Zamora. They received orders from the Junta on December 23 to try
and raise a rebellion in Palencia. They
were tasked with expelling royalists, collecting taxes on behalf of
the Junta, and creating an administration sympathetic to the
comuneros cause. Acuña's army made a series of raids into the area
around Dueñas, raising more than 4,000 ducats
and inspiring the peasantry. He returned to Valladolid in early
1521, then came back to Dueñas on January 10 to begin a major
offensive against the nobles of Tierra de Campos. The nobles' land
and holdings were completely devastated.[52][60]

In mid-January, Pedro de Ayala, Count of Salvatierra, joined the
comuneros and organized an army of about two thousand men who set
about raiding the north of Castile.[61]
Nearby, Burgos awaited the fulfillment of the pledges made by
Cardinal Adrian after they had joined the royalist cause two months
prior. The slow response led to dissatisfaction and uncertainty in
the city. Ayala and Acuña, aware of this situation, decided to
besiege Burgos, Ayala from its north and Acuña from its south. They
also sought to undermine the defenses by encouraging a revolt of
the inhabitants of Burgos.[60]

Royalist
response

Still in Germany, Charles V issued the Edict of Worms on
December 17, 1520 (not to be confused with the Edict of Worms of May 25, 1521, against Martin Luther),
which condemned 249 prominent Comunidad members. For
secular rebels, the punishment was death; clergy were to receive
lighter penalties. Similarly, the edict also declared that those
who supported the Comunidades were traitors, disloyal,
rebels, and infidels.[62]

The Royal Council's next move was the occupation of Ampudia in Palencia, a town
loyal to the Count of Salvatierra. The Junta sent Padilla to meet
Acuña; their combined force besieged the royal army at the castle of
Mormojón. The royal army slipped away by nightfall, and
Mormojón was forced to pay tribute to avoid being pillaged. Ampudia
was recovered by the rebels the next day, January 16.[63]

Meanwhile, the rebellion in Burgos scheduled for January 23 was
a failure due to poor coordination with the besieging army; it
started two days early and was easily crushed. The comuneros of
Burgos had to surrender, and this was the last rebellion to be seen
in Castile.[63][60]

Rebel campaigns of early
1521

Padilla's
decision on the rebels' next move

The taking of the Castle of Torrelobatón, built in the 13th
century, provided a much-needed victory for the comuneros. The
castle was renovated in 2007 and is now a tourist site.

After abandoning the siege of Burgos due to the failure of its
revolt, Padilla decided to return to Valladolid, while Acuña opted
to resume his skirmishing and harassment of noble properties around
Tierra de Campos. With this series of actions, Acuña intended to
destroy or occupy the homes of the prominent nobles. The rebels now
set themselves completely against the manorial system. This would be one of the
strongest features of the second phase of the rebellion.[63]

After the recent setbacks suffered by the comuneros, Padilla
realized that they needed a victory to raise morale. He decided to
take Torrelobatón and its castle. Torrelobatón
was a stronghold halfway between Tordesillas and Medina de Rioseco,
and was very close to Valladolid. Taking it would grant the rebels
an excellent fortress for launching military operations and remove
a threat on Valladolid.[64]

Battle of Torrelobatón

On February 21, 1521, the siege of
Torrelobatón began. Outnumbered, the town nevertheless resisted
for four days, thanks to its walls. On February 25, the comuneros
entered the town and subjected it to a massive looting spree as a
reward to the troops. Only churches were spared.[65] The
castle resisted for another two days. The comuneros then threatened
to hang all of the
inhabitants, at which point the castle surrendered. The defenders
did secure an agreement to spare half of the goods inside the
castle, thus avoiding further looting.[66]

The victory in Torrelobatón lifted the spirits of the rebel camp
while worrying the royalists about the rebel advance, exactly as
Padilla hoped. The faith of the nobles in Cardinal Adrian was once
again shaken, as he was accused of having done nothing to avoid
losing Torrelobatón. The Constable of Castile began to send troops
to the Tordesillas area to contain the rebels and prevent any
further advances.[67]

Despite the renewed enthusiasm among the rebels, a decision was
made to remain in their positions near Valladolid without pressing
their advantage or launching a new attack. This caused many of the
soldiers to return to their home communities, tired of waiting for
salaries and new orders.[68] This
was a problem the comunero forces had throughout the war; they
possessed only a small number of full-time soldiers, and their
militias were constantly "dissolving and recruiting."[69] A
serious attempt to negotiate a peaceful end to the war was tried
again by the moderates, but was undercut by extremists of both
sides.[70]

In the north, after the failure of the siege of Burgos in
January, the Count of Salvatierra resumed his campaign. He set off
to cause an uprising in Merindades, the homeland of the Constable of
Castile, and besieged Medina de Pomar and Frías.[61]

Acuña's southern
campaign

The Church of the Virgin of Highest Grace in Mora, completely reconstructed after
royalist troops set fire to it while 50 refugees took shelter
inside. The royalist commander Prior Zúñiga denied
responsibility.[71]

Acuña departed for Toledo in February, a small troop under his
command. He traveled south, declaring his impending claim on the
archdiocese to every village as he passed. This raised enthusiasm
among the commoners, who received him with cheers, but aroused
suspicion in the aristocracy. They feared Acuña might attack their
holdings as he did in Tierra de Campos. The Marquis of Villena and
Duke of Infantado contacted Acuña and persuaded him to sign a pact
of mutual neutrality.[72]

Acuña soon had to confront Antonio de Zúñiga, who had been
appointed commander of the royalist army in the Toledo area. Zúñiga
was a prior in the Knights of St. John, who maintained a base
in Castile at the time.[73] Acuña
received information that Zúñiga was in the area of Corral de
Almaguer, and pursued battle with him near Tembleque. Zúñiga drove the rebel forces off,
and then launched a counterattack of his own between Lillo and El Romeral, inflicting a
crushing defeat on Acuña. Acuña, a relentless self-promoter, tried
to minimize the loss and even claimed that he had emerged
victorious from the confrontation.[74][52]

Undaunted, Acuña continued into Toledo. He appeared at the
Zocodover Plaza in the heart of the city on March 29, 1521, Good Friday. The crowd
gathered around him and took him directly to the cathedral,
claiming the archbishop's chair for him.[71][52]
The next day he met with María Pacheco, wife of Juan de Padilla
and de facto leader of the Toledo Comunidad in
her husband's absence. A brief rivalry emerged between the two, but
it was resolved after mutual attempts at reconciliation.[75]

Once settled in the archdiocese of
Toledo, Acuña began to recruit any men he could find, enlisting
soldiers from fifteen to sixty years old. After royalist troops
burned the town of Mora on April 12, Acuña returned to the
countryside with roughly 1,500 men under his command. He moved into
Yepes, and from there conducted
raids and operations against royalist-controlled rural areas. He
first attacked and pillaged Villaseca de la Sagra, then faced
Zúñiga again in an inconclusive battle near the Tagus
river in Illescas.[76]
Light skirmishing near Toledo would continue until news of Villalar
ended the war.[76]

Battle of
Villalar

In early April 1521, the royalist side moved to combine their
armies and threaten Torrelobatón. The Constable
of Castile moved his troops (including soldiers recently
transferred from the defense of Navarre) southwest from Burgos to
meet with the Admiral's forces near
Tordesillas.[67]
Meanwhile, the comuneros reinforced their troops at Torrelobatón,
which was far less secure than the comuneros preferred. Their
forces were suffering from desertions, and the presence of royalist
artillery would make Torrelobatón's castle vulnerable. Juan de Padilla considered
withdrawing to Toro to seek reinforcements in early April,
but wavered. He delayed his decision until the early hours of April
23, losing considerable time and allowing the royalists to unite
their forces in Peñaflor.[77][78]

The combined royalist army pursued the comuneros. Once again,
the royalists had a strong advantage in cavalry, with their army
consisting of 6,000 infantry and 2,400 cavalry against Padilla's
7,000 infantry and 400 cavalry. Heavy rain slowed Padilla's
infantry more than the royalist cavalry and rendered the primitive
firearms of the rebels' 1,000 arquebusiers nearly
useless.[77]
Padilla hoped to reach the relative safety of Toro and the heights
of Vega
de Valdetronco, but his infantry was too slow. He gave battle
with the harrying royalist cavalry at the town of Villalar. The
cavalry charges scattered the rebel ranks, and the battle became a
slaughter. There were an estimated 500–1,000 rebel casualties and
many desertions.[78]

The three most important leaders of the rebellion were captured:
Juan de Padilla, Juan Bravo, and Francisco
Maldonado. They were beheaded the next morning in the Plaza of
Villalar, with a large portion of the royalist nobility
present.[79] The
remains of the rebel army at Villalar fragmented, with some
attempting to join Acuña's army near Toledo and others deserting.
The rebellion had been struck a crippling blow.[80]

End of the
war

After the Battle of Villalar, the towns of northern Castile soon
succumbed to the king's troops, with all its cities returning their
allegiance to the king by early May. Only Madrid and Toledo kept
their Comunidades alive.[81]

Resistance
of Toledo

María
Pacheco receives notice of the death of her husband at
Villalar. The painting is a 19th century work by Vicente
Borrás.

The first news of Villalar arrived in Toledo on April 26, but
was largely ignored by the local Comunidad. The magnitude
of the defeat became apparent in a few days, after the first
survivors began arriving in the city and confirmed the fact that
the three rebel leaders had been executed. Toledo was declared in
mourning over the death of Juan de Padilla.[82]

After the death of Padilla, Bishop Acuña lost
popularity in favour of María Pacheco, Padilla's widow.[83]
People began to suggest negotiating with the royalists, seeking to
avoid further suffering in the city. The situation looked even
worse after the surrender of Madrid on May 11.[81]
The fall of Toledo seemed only to be a matter of time.[81]

However, one ray of hope remained for the rebels. Castile had
withdrawn some of its troops from occupied Navarre
to fight the comuneros, and King Francis I of France used the
opportunity to invade with support
from the Navarrese. The royalist army was forced to march on
Navarre to respond rather than besiege Toledo. Acuña left Toledo to
travel to Navarre, but he was recognized and caught. It is disputed
whether he was seeking to join the French and continue fighting, or
was simply fleeing.[84]

María Pacheco took control of the city and the remains of the
rebel army, living in the Alcázar, collecting taxes, and
strengthening defenses. She requested the intervention of her
uncle, the respected Marquis of Villena, to negotiate with the
Royal Council, hoping he would be able to obtain better
concessions. The Marquis eventually abandoned the negotiations, and
María Pacheco took on personal negotiations with Prior Zúñiga, the
commander of the besieging forces. Her demands, though somewhat
galling to honor, were ultimately minor, such as guaranteeing the
property and reputation of her children.[85]

Still concerned about the French, the royal government gave in.
With the support of all parties, the surrender of Toledo was
orchestrated on October 25, 1521. Thus, on October 31 the comuneros
left the Alcázar of Toledo and new officials were appointed to run
the city. The truce guaranteed the freedom and property of all the
comuneros.[85]

Revolt
of February 1522

The new administrator of Toledo restored order and brought the
city back under royal control. However, he also provoked former
comuneros.[86]
María Pacheco continued her presence in the city and refused to
hand over all the hidden weapons until Charles V personally signed
the agreements reached with the Order of St. John. This unstable
situation came to an end on February 3, 1522, when the generous
terms of the surrender were annulled. Royal soldiers filled the
city and the administrator ordered Pacheco's execution.[86]
Riots broke out in protest. The incident was temporarily remedied
thanks to the intervention of María de Mendoza, the sister of María
Pacheco. Another truce was granted, and while the former comuneros
were defeated, the distraction was exploited by María Pacheco to
escape to Portugal disguised as a farmer.[87]

Pardon of
1522

Charles V returned to Spain on July 16, 1522.[88] Acts
of repression and retaliation against former comuneros did occur,
but only sporadically. Embarrassingly large numbers of important
people had supported the comuneros, or at least were suspiciously
slow to declare allegiance to the king, and Charles thought it
unwise to press the issue too much.[89]

Back in Valladolid, Charles declared a general pardon on November 1.[90] The
pardon gave amnesty to everyone involved in the revolt with the
exception of 293 comuneros, a small figure given the huge number of
rebels. Both Pacheco and Bishop Acuña were among the 293 excluded
from the pardon. More pardons were issued later, after pressure
from the Cortes; by 1527, the repression was completely at end. Of
the 293, 23 were executed, 20 died in prison, 50 purchased amnesty,
and 100 were pardoned later. The fates of the rest are unknown.[89]

Aftermath

María
Pacheco successfully escaped to Portugal, where she lived in
exile the remaining ten years of her life. Bishop Acuña, captured in Navarre, was
stripped of his ecclesiastical standing and executed after he
killed a guard while trying to escape.[91] Pedro
Girón received a pardon conditional on him going into exile to Oran in North Africa, where he served
as a commander against the Moors.[92]Queen
Joanna was locked in Tordesillas by her son. She would remain
there for thirty-five years, the rest of her life.[93]

Emperor Charles V would
go on to rule one of the largest and most sprawling empires in
European history. As a consequence, Charles was nearly constantly
at war, fighting France, England, the Papal
States, the Ottoman Turks, the Aztecs, the Incas, and the
Protestant Schmalkaldic League during his reign.
Spain would provide the bulk of the Habsburgs' armies and financial
resources over this period. Charles placed Castilians in high
governmental positions in both Castile and the Empire at large, and
generally left the administration of Castile in Castilian
hands.[94]
In that sense, the revolt could be considered successful.[94]

Some of the reforms of Isabella I which reduced noble
power were reversed as a price for luring the nobility to the
royalist side. However, Charles understood that noble encroachment
of power had helped cause the revolt, and embarked upon a new
reform program. Unpopular, corrupt, and ineffective officials were
replaced; judicial functions of the Royal Council were limited; and
local courts were revitalized.[95]
Charles also adjusted the membership of the Royal Council; its
hated president was replaced, the aristocracy's role reduced, and
more gentry were added to it.[96][95]
Realizing that the urban elite needed to have a stake in the royal
government once more, Charles gave many of them positions,
privileges, and government salaries.[97] The
Cortes, while not as important as the comuneros had hoped,
nevertheless maintained its power; it was still required to approve
new taxes and could advise the king.[98]
Charles also discouraged his officials from using overly coercive
methods, after seeing his heavy-handed treatment of the Cortes of
Corunna backfire.[99] If
anything, the co-option of the middle class worked too well; when
Charles' successor King Phillip II demanded a ruinously
large tax increase in the 1580s, the Cortes was too dependent on
the Crown for money to effectively resist policies that would wreck
the economy.[100]

Later
influence

Juan
Martín Díez, "El Empecinado" ("The Undaunted"), who
tried to rehabilitate the reputation of the comuneros in 1821

At the beginning of the 19th century, the image of the comuneros
began to be rehabilitated by scholars such as Manuel Quintana as
precursors of freedom and martyrs against absolutism.[105] The
decline of Castilian liberty was linked to the later decline of
Spain.[106]
The first major commemorative event came in 1821, the third centenary of the Battle of
Villalar. Juan Martín Díez, a nationalistic
liberal military leader who had fought in the resistance against Napoleon, led an
expedition to find and exhume the remains of the three leaders
executed in 1521. Díez praised the comuneros on behalf of the liberal government in power at
the time, likely the first positive governmental recognition
for their cause. This view was challenged by conservatives who
viewed a centralized state as modern and progressive, especially
after the anarchy and fragmentation of the 1868 Revolution in
Spain.[106]
Manuel Danvila, a conservative government minister, published the
six-volume Historia critica y documentada de las Comunidades de
Castilla from 1897–1900, one of the most important works of
scholarship on the revolt.[107]
Drawing on collected original sources, Danvila emphasized the
fiscal demands of the comuneros, and cast them as traditionalist,
reactionary, medieval, and feudal.[106]
Though a liberal, intellectual Gregorio Marañón shared the dim view
of the comuneros that once again prevailed in Spain; he cast the
conflict as one between a modern, progressive state open to
beneficent foreign influence against a conservative, reactionary,
and xenophobic Spain hypersensitive to religious and cultural
deviance with an insistence on spurious racial purity.[106]

General
Franco's government from 1939–1975 also encouraged an
unfavorable interpretation of the comuneros.[108]
According to approved historians such as José María Pemán, the revolt was
fundamentally an issue of petty Spanish
regionalism, something which Franco did his best to discourage.
Additionally, the comuneros did not properly appreciate Spain's
"imperial destiny."[109]

Since the mid-twentieth century, others have sought more
materialist reasons for the revolt. Historians such as José Antonio Maravall and Joseph Pérez
portray the developing revolt as alliances of different social
coalitions around shifting economic interests, with the "industrial
bourgeoisie" of artisans and woolworkers combining with the
intellectuals and the low nobility against the aristocrats and the
merchants.[110]
Maravall, who views the revolt as one of the first modern
revolutions, especially stresses the ideological conflict and
intellectual nature of the revolt, with features such as the first
proposed written constitution of Castile.[111]

See also

Footnotes

^
This article uses the term "tax" to encompass a variety of
revenue-raising methods the government used. Briefly,
servicios were flat monetary grants paid to the treasury;
the encabezamiento was a portion of the sales tax towns
collected sent to the government; and the cruzada (same
root as "crusade") was a special and semi-voluntary contribution
that counted as an indulgence and was generally used for war
against the Muslims. Charles wanted to abolish the lenient
encabezamiento and return to an older and harsher system
of direct royal control of tolls, pasturage fees, and the like. He
also requested large servicios at the Cortes he held. Part
of the revenue problem the government had was that income from the
cruzada had fallen greatly since the Reconquista had
finished in 1492.

^Junta, meaning "Congress" or
"Assembly," did not yet have the negative connotation of
"Oligarchical military dictatorship" in the 16th century.

^
There exists a theory that Girón's errors were in fact an
intentional betrayal of the comuneros. Considering his moderate
stance and later pardon by the government, historians such as Seaver consider this possible, but unlikely.

^Haliczer 1981, p. 147. The silk industry is held up as particularly relevant,
as the Moors had been deeply involved in it; more generally, many
Muslim converts to Christianity who had not been expelled still
emigrated from 1500 onward.

^Haliczer 1981, p. 161, and Seaver 1928, p. 87. Pérez
2001 lists the final fall as happening on May 31; this is
(almost certainly) referring to the formal capture of the Alcázar.
The defending forces had long since left by then.